The title says it all really. So if nothing else, please share and reblog this post to raise awareness for those that might be caught out - both artists and followers.
For a TL:DR, please look at the bottom of the post
What is happening?
Right now, there is at least one person actively impersonating multiple artists across tumblr in an effort to scam their followers into paying for fake ‘cheap commissions’.
The scammer will clone a tumblr, usually using a slight change to the url/account name to look like the real deal. They will then message people directly through Tumblr with messages along the lines of
“Hey, i’m doing cheap commissions right now. DM me to get one”. Naturally, this is ends up just being a way to take their money without giving anything back in return.
Who does this affect?
Everyone. Simple as that. As long as the scammer in question works unopposed, they are free to spread their influence and continue to scam more people. Even if you haven’t been targeted yet, it does not mean you are safe or immune.
Several artists have already fallen victim to this scammer, and I encourage any artists that have to reblog this post with the details of their affected account(s) and the ones the scammer has set up.
How can we stop this?
Tumblr, like many other social media platforms, seems to care very little about ‘minor’ occurences like this one, and despite reaching out directly to them over a week ago through multiple avenues of contact - they have refused to comment on the situation, provide a recommended response for users, or take action on behalf of those already affected.
Despite this, there are still tools at our disposal that we can use to make this scam more difficult, and to increase its visibility to those within Tumblr staff that are required by policy to take action.
Tumblr has the following to say on the topic of impersonation:
Confusion or Impersonation. Don’t do things that would cause confusion between you or your blog and a person or company, like registering a deliberately confusing URL. Don’t impersonate anyone. While you’re free to ridicule, parody, or marvel at the alien beauty of Benedict Cumberbatch, you can’t pretend to actually be Benedict Cumberbatch.
They then provide a link to this online form that you can fill out if you suspect someone’s identity is being confused. Unfortunately, this can only be filled out if you are the victim of impersonation. In other words, only the artists can fill this out legitimately.
So, what about the followers and users of tumblr whom aren’t being impersonated?
Our most valuable tool in this online platform is the platform itself. It enables us to spread our word near-virally across all the many sub-communities on Tumblr with remarkable efficiency for a user-driven system. We can take advantage of that effect to increase awareness of the situation. Even if you - the one reading this right now - aren’t an artist or don’t know an artist, the act of reblogging this post or sharing it directly with friends improves it’s ‘ranking’ in popularity increasing its chances to be seen by more people.
We don’t need everyone on Tumblr to see the post for it to be effective, just like we don’t need the entirety of the human population of the world to be immune to a disease for that disease to be rendered ineffective or eradicated. If enough people are aware, the likelihood of pulling off a successful scam increases dramatically reducing efficiency to a point that it no longer becomes profitable to continue.
Why should I care?
It disheartens me to say this, but of the many artists I contacted directly over the past week to warn about this issue many of them refused to listen or dodged the responsibility with lines like;
“I’m not being impersonated, so it doesn’t affect me”
“I’m just one person. I can’t make an impact”
“I need to take care of my community. Other people can look after theirs”
This is honestly disappointing that so many artists or art-rebloggers care so little as to intentionally wave the responsibility of keeping their followers and fellow artists safe from this, that they cannot spare 10 seconds of their time to share an informative post.
I’m not here to bash artists, but it is time that everyone takes responsibility for their own communities, and of those around them.
Artists: You have a responsibility to ensure that your followers and fans aren’t being abused by someone who may impersonate you. If they succeed, your reputation will be damaged, and your followers will resent you. Your followers are also almost guaranteed to be following other artists meaning your efforts can spread beyond your own circle of influence, so don’t be naive when you think you have little effect.
Followers: You have just as much responsibility to be aware of those that might try to scam you or your fellow followers. Don’t just sit in silence when you see something wrong: Ignoring the issue only makes it more resilient to our efforts to stop it. You are the vocal majority if you just use your voices to be heard!
TL:DR
A scammer is impersonating artists and scamming money from their followers under the guise of ‘cheap commissions’. If we ignore the issue, it will get worse.
Every single person that reads this can afford to spend just 10 seconds to reblog and share this post. Those 10 seconds can save others from being scammed for hundreds of dollars.
Reblog & Share
Heads up for artists!
And adding my own comment. I WILL NEVER contact you via DMs/Messages in regards to commissions, discount or otherwise. I always request contact me shifted to my work email.
I don’t necessarily rescind this statement but… prospective med students should know the ugly however statistically unlikely it is
I am not sure I would want my children to go into medicine, if I have any. I’m not saying I wouldn’t support them, but I’m not sure that this life is something I could recommend to people I love. I have a younger sister in med school (who will excel whatever she does, anx has the brains and guts to leave if she wishes), and a younger brother who I hope goes into a field that makes him happy.
It scares me that I have to worry about the wellbeing of all my friends in medicine. That I have to fight for my own sanity. And that though there are things I love about medicine, enough to stop me from leaving, I wish for better for those that I love. I want them to be happy, to feel valued and supported. To feel like they are living their best life. And that can be a hard thing to achieve in our line of work.
When I hear about classmates of classmates committing suicide on a monthly basis, something needs to change
I think this is a really important takeaway.
Yes, we should be proud of ourselves when we beat insurmountable odds to move forward in this field. Yes, we should have lots of quality exposure to be sure this is what we want.
But we shouldn’t congratulate ourselves for surviving in a broken system, and then turn around and perpetuate it to those coming after us. (One of my seniors brushed my concerns off with “that’s residency.”) This system, especially in GME, is set up to beat the joy of patient care out of us.
Medicine is a calling. You put almost a decade of work and huge sacrifice into it, only to find out in the course of a week that you may not get to practice? Forget being squeezed out of your specialty, what about not being a clinician at all?
Whenever stories break about another physician/student suicide, seldom do we actually see the dark side. We know someone died, we see there may have been cries for help, but the critically important details are left out. Notes are sometimes left and the contents are rarely discussed, which is understandable but tragic as I would bet there are a lot of answers about the way medical education failed them in a time of need.
My point is, we need to air the dirty laundry of medical education if there’s any hope in making it better and safer. My wife and I developed serious reservations about sending out kids to med school in the current climate… not because we became cynics about patient care, but because we worry they’ll be destroyed and become another statistic brushed under the rug.
Precisely.
So many people who are good doctors, and came into it with lots of determination, passion, skill and desire to help people, still end up burning out and leaving.
Whilst it’s fair to warn people of the reality (I believe schoolkids should be given the information to make more informed choices about their careers), that totally doesn’t excuse any line of work from being stressful and bad for you. It doesn’t excuse training pathways that basically leave you stranded and basically just ‘training’ yourself. It doesn’t excuse poor working conditions. It doesn’t excuse having to stay late. Or bullying. Or lack of support. Or just being expected to do too many things. Or how the system makes you personally responsible for all its failures. Or how (and I quote multiple people I know) problems are basically ignored unless you get to the point of having a breakdown.
Because it’s just not good enough to say “that’s just how it is”.
Excuse me. We restart hearts that stopped. We stitch up mangled limbs. We save babies dying of sepsis. We give people years of lives they would otherwise have lost. We restore quality of life. We restore equilibrium to minds that are hurting. We make death comfortable, and bring peace to the suffering. We work small miracles on a regular basis. And you think we’re going to take
“that’s just how it is”
?!?
We make the difficult possible every day. If we can do that, then there’s no excuse; we (as a society) can make medicine better for the people in it.
